Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni has sanctioned project to develop Saint Catherine Monastery in South Sinai and the nearby area at a total cost of LE 25 Million in 24 months.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said that the renovation project will be carried out in four stages.

Saint Catherine Monastery to be restored in 24 months, State Information Service, Egypt, August 15, 2005.

A roundup of the recent Egyptian travel and antiquity news from TravelVideo.TV.

1400 Pharaonic artefacts displayed at Sharm El Sheikh Museum & Other Egypt Antiquity News, TravelVideo.TV, Canada, August 15, 2005.

Reading Mark Turner’s story about attending the King Tut exhibit reminds me of my adventures at the Ramses exhibit in Dallas years and years ago.

It was in 1989, I think, give or take a year, when my youngest daughter read that the world renown Ramses the Great exhibit was going to stop in Dallas and she wanted to go. Seeing that it would be at the Dallas Museum of Natural History for several more months, I agreed to take her. Then promptly forgot all about it.

A month or so later, she mentioned that the coming weekend was the final chance to see the exhibit...

Neither Here Nor There: I had a date with Ramses the Great, Plainview Daily Herald, Texas, USA, August 14, 2005.

The hair is of biblical proportions: long and silvery, straight out of "The Ten Commandments"; the famous eyes scanning the script are Dr. Zhivago's.   But the voice, softly evoking Egypt in a Beverly Hills hotel lobby, is unmistakably that of Omar Sharif, and he is preparing for a new role, this one entirely off-screen.

With just days to go before the L.A. opening of "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," Sharif was in town to lend his voice to a countryman, the boy king.   In a few hours, he would head to a Santa Monica, California, studio to record the English-language version of the museum audio guide for Tut.

But first: Does Mr. Sharif know that when Tut's treasures last came to the United States, in the 1970s, the now-deceased Orson Welles recorded an audio guide for that show?

The actor, 73, groaned. "I can't compete with that," he joked...

Star power now leads museum-goers, The Seattle Times, Washington, USA, August 15, 2005.